Nyle DiMarco, a leader in the deaf community who started his career as “America’s Next Top Model” and as the winner of the mirror ball trophy on “Dancing With the Stars,” shared his barrier-breaking story as a deaf man recently in the Memorial Chapel at the University of Redlands.
Born into a multigenerational deaf family, DiMarco has a passion for language, literacy, and advocacy within the deaf community and beyond. He is an honorary spokesperson for Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K) and founder of the Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which works to improve the lives of deaf people around the world. He also served as a creative collaborator on The ASL App, created by native deaf signers to teach conversational American Sign Language.
Believing that his deafness is “an asset rather than a limitation,” DiMarco builds a bridge between the deaf and hearing by shining a light on the struggles and the triumphs of the deaf culture. He shows audiences that with a sense of community, commitment to goals, and belief in oneself, an individual can accomplish anything.
The University of Redlands is a private, nonprofit university that connects students to a world of opportunity, geared toward their passions and potential. With campuses across California, the University offers more than 40 undergraduate programs, as well as 23 graduate programs in business, education, theology, communication sciences and disorders, geographic information systems, and music—blending liberal arts and professional programs, applied and theoretical study, traditional majors and self-designed curricula.